Hole in the Victory Formation

By

Joshua Robinson

Sept. 17, 2012 8:27 p.m. ET

The Giants' last practice before a game always ends the same way. The offense lines up with two tight ends in close, Eli Manning under center, the fullback to his right, and a running back to his left. Then they rehearse the simplest play in their book: the "victory" formation.

Manning takes the snap and goes down on one knee without the slightest contact. It's how the Giants like to conclude their preparation—on a positive note. "This is the formation we want to be in at the end of the game," the players tell each other.

The play's purpose is to kill the clock without taking the slightest risk at the end of games. And the defense, knowing that the game is all but over, normally dials down the contact—a small act of sportsmanship that seems a better alternative than causing a pointless injury.

So when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' defense dove inside and caused Manning to land on his back on the final play of the Giants' 41-34 victory Sunday, the Giants were outraged. Giants coach Tom Coughlin confronted Bucs coach Greg Schiano during the postgame handshake. And there was outrage over the outrage: ESPN analyst Ron Jaworski said Coughlin should apologize.

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But everyone seemed to forget something: Isn't the victory formation specifically designed to stop an all-out blitz? That is, as long as the team with the ball fully commits to its blocks, something players rarely do in that situation.

"I didn't expect that," said Andre Brown, who was in at running back. "My job is to protect the quarterback. But they shot so low it was underneath everybody's knees….They had so much pushing at the bottom of the pile that I just got kicked back."

Admittedly, the Giants had no reason to expect any onslaught from the Buccaneers. NFL teams deployed a version of the victory formation about 295 times a season between 2000 and 2011, according to Stats LLC, and never has a designed quarterback kneel resulted in a fumble. No defense has recorded a quarterback hurry or knockdown in those situations either.

ENLARGE

The victory formation is designed to prevent disasters like the infamous Miracle at the Meadowlands.
Associated Press

Yet several Tampa Bay players said that Schiano had called for a rush anyway.

"We're supposed to play 'til the end of the quarter," Buccaneers defensive end Michael Bennett said.

Perhaps Schiano was inspired by the Miracle at the Meadowlands, a bizarre 1978 incident between the Giants and Philadelphia Eagles. The Giants were ahead and in possession with time running out. They ran a play on first down and knelt on second down.

But, strangely, quarterback Joe Pisarcik called for a run. And when he handed the ball off to Larry Csonka, the ball hit his hip and popped loose. Eagles cornerback Herm Edwards was there to recover it for the game-winning touchdown.

"I thought they were going to kneel on it," Edwards said Monday on ESPN Radio.

Since then, victory formations have featured a wide receiver or a defensive back lined up roughly seven yards behind the quarterback. He is there in case of extreme emergency to pounce on a fumble or tackle someone coming the other way. For the Giants, it's receiver Hakeem Nicks.

Or maybe Schiano had seen Oklahoma State's victory-formation fumble against Troy two years ago. Playing with a sprained thumb and a three-point lead, quarterback Brandon Weeden (now of the Cleveland Browns) lost a snap that was only recovered because Troy's defense rushed up the middle. That didn't decide the game since Troy turned it over on the next play, but the team made no apologies for trying it.

And neither did Schiano. With five seconds left in the fourth quarter Sunday and the Buccaneers trailing by a touchdown, he argued that the game wasn't quite settled yet.

"I don't know if that's not something that's done in the National Football League, but what I do with our football team is we fight until they tell us the game is over," he said after the game. "There's nothing dirty about it. There's nothing illegal about it. We crowd the ball. It's like a sneak defense and we try to knock it loose."

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